Has anyone else grown up feeling like this?...|

(*This was posted to my Tumblr account May 23rd so pls keep that in mind. I also found out that Otherkin fits what I was looking for thanks to some people explaining it on the web in more detail and in a way I could understand.)

Does/did you ever feel as if you weren't entirely human? You feel as if you can't really relate to people due to past trauma of people not treating you LIKE a human. Because of what you went through was basically dehumanizing. 

I don't feel like I am an animal but I have ALWAYS felt as if I was a creature. Never really felt, "normal" enough to be considered in the eyes of other people since 2nd grade. Now this being said, I had a wonderful childhood BECAUSE of my parents but it was school and school alone that made me feel this way.

Being a child dealing with this, I would just go and play by myself, far away from people in nature. My parent's would take me out on awesome nature trips like walks at our local parks, star gazing and picnicking to name a few.

My parent's and nature as well as reading fantasy books and doing arts and crafts were my major escapes before I started to meet *people in my 5th grade year (this is when I repeated the grade) who treated me with love and understanding.

Of course as a child I would pretend to be a tiger/wolf (werewolf)/red fox/fennec fox because those were animals I loved but I never felt like I was one of them or both. Like I said in the beginning of this, I started to feel like a creature, a beast. Something that started to hate people, a misanthrope, an elemental. Something that felt connected to the trees and animals.

The only animals I do truly feel close to but do not see myself or clam to be are Spotted Hyenas and River Otters. Other then that... creature/beast is what keeps coming to mind on how I feel. I'll even have dreams where I am not entirely human. The best why I can describe how I look would be like Moomin/Joxter/Snufkin aka a Goblin/Trollish/Impish/Forest spirit. 

Growing up I remember there being, "people" who deeply felt that they were animals in their past lives, mind you this was roughly around... 2005/2006 when I seen those docs and I never knew the name till around 2024. Therians, videos would pop up about them and soon after... Otherkin, Alterhuman, Otherhearted, Fictionkin... it was so confusing and still is for me to keep in mind each meaning behind them.

It had me thinking... is this what I had been feeling? Like, there was a name to it, to what I was feeling. The only issue though is that, I don't know which or if any I would fall under.

I feel as if Otherhearted would fit but would Alterhuman be the right one to use? If someone could take the time to leave their insight down below, I would really appreciate the help.

(*My closest and dearest friends.)